'He needs to keep his mouth shut' - Auckland Vicar claps back after Brian Tamaki's latest anti-gay sermon

Reverend Dr Helen Jacobi of Auckland's St Matthew-in-the-City hits out at Mr Tamaki over his latest anti-LGBT rhetoric.

The reverend of a prominent Auckland church has slammed the sermon of Destiny Church's Brian Tamaki in which he called gay and lesbian clergy members "contamination", telling him to "keep his mouth shut".

The Reverend Dr Helen Jacobi of St Matthew-in-the-City - an Anglican church which welcomes the LGBT+ community - reacted to Mr Tamaki's comments which were made in a sermon on Sunday.

"There's been such a breakdown and contamination in churches and in denominations it's gone beyond a joke," Mr Tamaki told those gathered.

"Churches are so unguarded and [have] so lost their way that now you can have lesbian ministers… and gay… you might be saying 'yay' and clapping, but I’m not clapping with you - and neither is God."

Dr Jacobi told 1 NEWS called Mr Tamaki's comment "apalling".

"In our Anglican church we have many clergy who are gay or lesbian, and they have wonderful gifts that they offer alongside their colleagues who are heterosexual," Dr Jacobi said.

"It makes no difference to their ministry - they are people and they are offering great service.

"To be criticising people for who they are is simply not Christian in my view ... he claims to be speaking for what God would say and I would utterly disagree.

"In scripture, God is being described as a god of love and a god who welcomes all - especially those who are excluded in the society of the time and that would therefore obviously include gay and lesbian people in our day.

"I think he needs to keep his mouth shut."

Former Reverend of Auckland's Metropolitan Community Church Doug McGee told 1 NEWS the comments were "outdated", saying that "god is unconditional love - and inclusive love too".

"The church should be leading some of the changes in society instead of dragging behind," McGee said.

"When one delves beyond the surface of the scriptures that condemn gays, then it's a whole different picture, but so often those that condemning gay people, they are only looking at the literal wording of a certain portion.

"In condemning gays, they're showing their own self-righteousness."

Mr Tamaki caused outrage last November when he suggested "certain human sin" including gay priests, were responsible for the deadly Canterbury earthquakes which killed 185 people.

Following those comments, a Change.org petition was created calling for Destiny Church to be stripped of its charitable status, which currently allows the church considerable tax breaks, and the petition attracted more than 127,000 signatures.

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